Questions to Ask Before Building a Website

by Brandon Wright April 3, 2017

Design, Develop

THOUGHTLAB’S VITAL QUESTIONS TO ASK BEFORE BUILDING A WEBSITE

Every time we kick off a new web design project we get excited. We can’t help it! It’s a thrill to walk into work, crack open our MacBooks and have something fresh to work on. But with all our excitement comes the inevitable underestimated amount of work ahead for our client. Sure we’re taking on the bulk of the work, but client input is critical for a successful project. Your website is the digital version of your company, and translating your company's vision into HTML will take some serious effort.

An Ounce of Preparation….

Over our eighteen years in business as a web design agency we’ve learned that the old adage “an ounce of preparation is worth a pound of cure” to be as true as they come. To help you be as prepared as possible for your upcoming website design or redesign project we have created a list of questions designed to help you finalize your thoughts before jumping into the deep end. If you take the time to answer these questions up front you’ll help stem the flow of minor questions coming from your agency, and maximize the efficiency of their time.. More bang, for your buck!

This post will cover questions from the following subjects:

Basic Details & Identity

Scope and Specs

Functionality Requirements

Marketing Requirements

Considerations for a Redesign

SMART Goals

BASIC DETAILS & IDENTITY

You know your business inside and out, but a description straight for the horses mouth will help keep everyone inline with your vision.

In two sentences describe what your company does?

What is your business’s unique value proposition?

Describe your target audience.

Why do you want a new website?

What is the purpose of the website?

What are your corporate core values and how do you express them to your visitors?

When would you like to begin work on the website, and when would you like to launch the new site?

Who are your top three competitors?

What makes you different from your competitors?

Why should people do business with you rather than your competitors?

Describe the style of the website you want.

Do you have specific company colors that need to be used?

Does your company have a logo?

Can you provide the original artwork files to your logo?

Do you have any other materials that the site needs to match with in some way (brochures, press materials, etc.)?

If you have a current website, what do you like most about it?

Is there any functionality or options on your current website that you plan to keep (other than the content)?

What are your top 3 frustrations with your current website?

What do your current competitors’ websites have that you wish to have?

Are there any websites, in any industry, with a design that you like?

What about those websites would you like to be incorporated into your website?

What types of things do you see on other websites that you really hate?

Name the 3 things that are most important in the design of your new website.

Name the 3 things that are least important in the design of your new website.

Who will be involved on your end in the creation of the website?

Who will be managing website upkeep?

Do you have a budget you are trying to stay within?

What is your yearly budget for improvements and site maintenance?

SCOPE & SPECS

Like building a house, building a website requires multiple different skill sets, and people. This section will help iron out the exact scope of work, and who will be tasked with what.

Where is your website hosted? Can you provide usernames and passwords to your host?

Do you already have a URL you plan to use?

Will you need a favicon created?

Do you have a tagline you wish to use or do you need help creating one for your site?

Do you have a completed site architecture for the new website or will this be part of the scope of work?

How many pages will the finished website be (estimated)?

Do you have any page wireframes ready or will those need to be produced as part of the scope of work?

Do you have the content for the website or will content creation be a part of the scope of work?

How many pages of content will need to be developed?

Will we be importing and formatting your content, or do you plan to do this?

Do you or your team need training for making website updates, content publishing guidelines, etc.?

Do you have any specific photos you plan to use?

Do you have full rights to those files?

Can you provide hi-res files to us?

Will we need to find and/or create any images for the website?

Will video or audio be a part of the new website?

Can you provide us the proper files or is creation of this content part of the scope of work?

How many videos or audio files will be added and/or created?

Will any customizations need to be made such as optimizing for search, adding content overlays, customized wrappers, etc?

FUNCTIONALITY REQUIREMENTS

Websites can handle a dizzying amount of functionality. Lets find out exactly what your's will do.

Do you require online chat features?

Do you have any other media or PDF documents that need to be incorporated, or will any need to be created?

Will this website need to be optimized for Search Engine Optimization?